Security in airports, train stations, ports, mail sorting facilities, office buildings and other public and/or private venues is becoming increasingly important, particularly in light of recent violent events.
Typically, checkpoint security-screening systems make use of scanning devices (such as X-ray scanning devices) that use penetrating radiation to scan individual pieces of luggage (or other objects). Such scanning devices generally include a conveyor belt on which the pieces of luggage (or other objects) are positioned, either directly or on a support such as a tray. The conveyor belt displaces the objects positioned thereon towards an inspection area, also referred to as the scanning tunnel, where the objects are subjected to penetrating radiation. The scanning devices typically generate images (X-ray images in the case of an X-ray scanning device) that convey information related to the contents of the pieces luggage. Each scanning device includes a display device connected thereto on which images are rendered. A human operator visually inspects the images in order to determine whether there could be any potentially threatening objects located in the luggage. In conventional systems, a respective human operator is assigned to each scanning device in order to visually inspect the images that are generated. Typically that same operator also controls the movement of the conveyor belt of the scanning device. Once a piece of luggage has been screened by visually inspecting the image(s), the human operator typically identifies the piece of luggage either as being clear, in which case it can be collected by its owner, or by marking it for further inspection, in which case the piece is luggage is forwarded to secondary screening where additional security screening is performed (for example a manual inspection or other).
For each piece of luggage screened, there is an inherent delay associated with the piece of luggage being displaced on the conveyor belt. It has been observed that, for an average X-ray machine currently in use, it take approximately two (2) seconds to scroll an image of a piece of luggage on the display screen of a human operator. During that time the operator's time is essentially not used to visually inspect the image. Additional delays are incurred when the human operator needs additional time to be able to satisfy himself/herself that there are not prohibited objects in the piece of luggage. In such cases, the operator may temporary stop the conveyor belt and/or have the conveyor belt operate in reverse so that the piece of luggage is rescanned by the scanning device.
At airports, the above issues are further being compounded by the increase in the number of individual items that need to be screened at the security checkpoints. Although security measures, such as taking a laptop out of a bag for screening, restricting the quantity of liquids and gels allowed in carry-on bags, and removing shoes, are all fairly reasonable risk mitigation strategies designed to make air travel safer, they resulted in a lot more individual items being scanned than in the past. More items to scan necessarily requires more time to process. The delays associated with the screening of objects at security checkpoints can be significant and contribute to increase the level of frustration of travellers. In busy airports, it is now not uncommon to recommend that passengers arrive several hours (often two or three hours) prior to the scheduled departure time of their flight.
One of the approaches that can assist in countering the effects of these delays at security checkpoints is the use of automated threat detection (ATD). Generally ATD work in tandem with the scanning devices. Typically, when ATD functionality is provided, each scanning device is provided with ATD functionality for processing the images generated by subjecting pieces of luggage (or other objects) to penetrating radiation in order to identify regions of interests in the images (e.g. regions potential containing threats). If a region of interest is identified in an image, the image displayed to the human operator on the display screen associated with the scanning device is typically annotated by the ATD system to direct the attention of the human operator to the region of interest, for example by highlighting the region of interest in the image.
Although the use of automated threat detection (ATD) in principle allows a reduction in the delays associated with an operator examining an image of individual pieces of luggage, it does not address delays associated with the pieces of luggage being displaced on the conveyor belt. This approach also does not counter the effects of the increase in the number of additional objects that need to be individually screened to satisfy new security regulations.
Another approach used to accounts for the effects of these delays at security checkpoints is to provide multiple scanning devices in order to be able to process multiple passengers, or crew members, in parallel. While multiple scanning devices in use at the same time is advantageous from the perspective of being able to screen a large number of individuals relatively quickly, it increases the number of operators required to man the checkpoints thereby resulting in higher costs for the airports and/or security agency responsible for staffing these checkpoints. With every new security screening requirement, screening costs are continuously on the rise despite the best efforts from airport authorities.
In view of the above, there is a need in the industry for providing an improved security checkpoint screening system that addresses at least some of the deficiencies of existing screening systems.